A&M International Hosts International
Visitors May 8-9

Visitors from around the world will converge on the Texas
A&M International University campus May 8 - 9 to learn more
about the economic, political, and social implications of the
global marketplace.

Duane Burdorf, Director of A&M Internationals Texas
Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development, said 9
international business leaders, academics, and business
journalists from 9 different nations will visit the University
and Laredo and Nuevo Laredo businesses as part of "The
Globalization of Business and Markets: A Multi-Regional
Project."

"These international visitors are touring diverse regions
of the US to study attitudes and approaches different communities
have towards the impact of globalizing. Visitors can then see how
the US deals with issues of global competition, investment
promotion, increasingly diverse workforce, worker dislocation and
income inequalities, education and training, and environmental
degradation, and compare the US response with that of their own
country," said Burdorf.

Highlights from the Laredo visit include a demonstration of
the Universityıs Border Trade Institute (BTI) homepage on the
World Wide Web by Data Base Specialist Carlos I. Santillan,
A&M International, scheduled for Thursday, May 8 from 10 -
10:30 am at the Laredo Development Foundation, 616 Leal St.

Scheduled events for Friday, May 9 include a welcome from Dr.
Khosrow Fatemi, Dean of the University College of Business
Administration, and City officials at 9 am in Pellegrino Hall
room 112 followed by a tour of the campus; a presentation on the
North American Trade Automation Prototype (NATAP) by Dr. James
Giermanski, Professor of Management and Director of
Transportation and Logistics for the Universityıs Center for the
Study of Western Hemispheric Trade, 10 - 10:30 am in Pellegrino
Hall room 112; and a presentation on Environmental and Health
Issues by Dr. Thomas Vaughan, Associate Professor of Biology at
A&M International and President of the Rio Grande
International Study Center, 11 am - 12 noon in Pellegrino Hall
room 112.

Tours of the Union Pacific Intermodal Facility, US Customs
facilities at International Bridge I, and Barryıs in Nuevo
Laredo are also scheduled.

Other cities to be toured for the project include Seattle,
Washington; Nogales, Arizona; Des Moines, Iowa; Raleigh, North
Carolina; New York, New York; and Washington, DC.

The project is coordinated by the Meridian International
Center through a grant awarded from the US Information Agency in
Washington, DC.

Project goals include reviewing social, political, and
economic implications of globalization, including discussions of
benefits and costs to developed and developing countries;
demonstrating practical examples of globalized business, markets,
planning and action by large and small businesses and
communities; and discussing education, environmental,
communication, free market, and democracy issues relating to
globalization.

For more information on the international visit at A&M
International May 8 -9, please contact Burdorf at 326-2547.

University office hours are 8 am - 5 pm Monday - Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with
media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public
Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu